Only Seven Percent of U.S. Fifteen Year-Olds Have All Three Life Experiences Key to Their Futures

MINNEAPOLIS--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--A new study exploring the importance of teen motivation and engagement in civic life finds that only seven percent of 15 year-olds in the U.S. experience a strong combination of three key factors critical to their success, according to research sponsored by the Best Buy Children’s Foundation.

“The Teen Voice 2009 study captures the direct voice of the U.S. 15 year-old, pointing out the opportunities we all have to work alongside young people, and help them find and follow their passions”

The national survey of 1,817 15 year-olds, conducted by Search Institute – Teen Voice 2009: The Untapped Strengths of 15-Year-Olds – finds that a majority of teens lack high levels of each of the concepts: “sparks,” “teen voice” and “relationships and opportunities.” These three factors, when experienced at high levels and combined, provide young people the support they need to set and keep a positive course in the midst of a critical time in their lives.

A panel discussion of the study’s findings will take place today at Best Buy headquarters in Richfield, MN and online at www.at15.com.

“The Teen Voice 2009 study captures the direct voice of the U.S. 15 year-old, pointing out the opportunities we all have to work alongside young people, and help them find and follow their passions,” said Brian Dunn, Chairman and CEO, Best Buy Co., Inc. “Teens are a rich resource, and in supporting them we enrich not only their lives, but our own families and communities as well.”

Teen Voice 2009 explores three interlocking concepts:

1. “Sparks” are individual talents, passions or gifts teens say give them energy and motivation to do well in life;

2. the Teen Voice Index (TVI) measures how much teens think their voices are heard on key issues that matter to them; and

3. the Relationship and Opportunities Index (ROI) tracks the access teens say they have to high-quality resources and relationships that help them in nurture their strengths.

Teens that score high on all three of these concepts are more likely to have a sense of purpose and hope for their individual futures, than those who don’t. Based on these three concepts, the Teen Voice 2009 survey found that:

• Although 66 percent of teens are able to identify at least one spark, less than half get support for their sparks beyond their families;
• Only 18 percent of teens are actively engaged in social issues, indicating significant opportunities to help young people find their voice and contribute to their communities; and
• Teens with high ROI scores (only 12 percent of those surveyed) are three times as likely as those with low scores to have a sense of hopeful purpose, express caring values, be actively engaged in school and take on leadership roles.

“We are extremely excited to be partnering with Best Buy to reveal the true voice of U.S. 15 year olds – and hear first-hand the motivations, opportunities and relationships they need to set or keep on a positive course at a critical time in their lives,” said Dr. Peter Benson, President and CEO, Search Institute.

Today’s panel discussion will examine the significant challenges facing teens, how these challenges can be addressed and ultimately how communities can support and benefit from teens’ strengths. The panelists features three Minneapolis-area teens, and also includes Joe Cavanaugh, CEO and Founder of Youth Frontiers; Professor Richard Lerner, Tufts University; and Professor Michael Rodriguez, University of Minnesota.

Best Buy also announced its @15 Advisory Board comprised of teen experts who offer their perspectives and recommendations on how to maximize the effectiveness of @15 to support teens and provide insights on how to best frame a new conversation around teens as strengths. Inaugural members include:

• Peter L. Benson, Ph.D., president and CEO, Search Institute
• Catherine and Dave Cook, founders, myYearbook
• Michael Franzini, Photographer, author, One Hundred Young Americans
• Anastasia Goodstein, Founder, editor-in-chief, YPulse
• Richard M. Lerner, Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science, director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University
• Shanterra McBride, founder and director, PLOT: Preparing Leaders of Today
• William E. Milliken, founder and vice chairman, Communities In Schools
• Marc H. Morial, president and CEO, National Urban League
• Rebecca Saito, senior research associate, Center for Youth Development, University of Minnesota
• Heather Smith, president, Rock the Vote
• Roger P. Weissberg, president, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)
• Taylor Swift, recording artist, who will serve as special teen advisor.

For more information about @15 and to view the full report, log on to www.at15.com.

About Search Institute

Search Institute is Best Buy’s research partner in the @15 Program. Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the institute is a leading innovator in discovering what children and adolescents need to become caring, healthy, productive, and responsible adults. It applies this knowledge to motivate and equip everyone in society—youth and adults—to take part in creating a world where all young people are valued and thrive. Search Institute is an independent, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization whose mission is to provide leadership, knowledge, and resources to promote healthy children, youth, and communities. It was founded in 1958 and has been promoting positive change on behalf of young people for 50 years. For more information, visit www.search-institute.org.

About @15

Best Buy believes in the power of teens, and @15 is a new platform to connect with them, give voice to their perspectives, and invest our resources—including the energy and talents of our employees—to turn their ideas into action and support their efforts to lead social change. Teens bring passion and enthusiasm to tackling tough issues. They are also important to our business—they shop in our stores, and they're our future employees. There’s a real opportunity to listen to and learn from what teens have to say. And through the @15 Fund, we'll put the philanthropic power of @15 directly into their hands. To learn more, visit www.at15.com.

About Best Buy Co., Inc.

With operations in the United States, Canada, China, Europe and Mexico, Best Buy is a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products and services with a commitment to growth and innovation. The Best Buy family of brands and partnerships collectively generates more than $45 billion annual revenue and includes brands such as Best Buy, Audiovisions, The Carphone Warehouse, Future Shop, Geek Squad, Jiangsu Five Star, Magnolia Audio Video, Napster, Pacific Sales Kitchen, Bath and Electronic Centers, The Phone House and Speakeasy. Approximately 155,000 employees apply their talents to help bring the benefits of these brands to life for customers through retail locations, multiple call centers and Web sites, in-home solutions, product delivery and activities in our communities. Community partnership is central to the way we do business at Best Buy. In fiscal 2009, we donated a combined $33.4 million to improve the vitality of the communities where our employees and customers live and work. For more information about Best Buy, visit www.bestbuy.com.

Teen Voice 2009: The Untapped Strengths of 15-Year-Olds was designed and analyzed by Search Institute. It was conducted on behalf of the Search Institute by Harris Interactive. All data collection was done online within the United States between October 8 and November 11, 2008 among 1,817 15 year olds. Results were weighted as needed to reflect the composition of the U.S. population of 15 year olds using targets for region, gender, race/ethnicity, parent’s highest level of education and metro status of school location.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among the Harris Poll Online (HPOL) database, which includes several million people who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys and from a trusted partner. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to be invited to participate in an online research panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

In addition, Harris Interactive conducted a series of online bulletin board focus groups from November 18 to November 21, 2008, with 52 teenagers recruited from those who had participated in the survey.

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